France trials four-day working week for divorced parents so they can have day off to care for their children

Divorced parents who have shared custody of their children will soon be eligible to work a four-day week in France under a new trial scheme.

From September, in some areas, civil servants who look after their children on alternating residence arrangements will have an extra day off if their child is staying with them, said Gabriel Attal, the prime minister, on Sunday.

Parents are expected to allocate Wednesdays as their day off because primary and most middle schools do not have classes that afternoon. 

Attal, 35, had previously tested the four-day system two years ago when he was budget minister.

Staff had no reduction in working hours, resulting in slightly longer days in the office.

Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, said from September in some areas of France divorced civil servants with shared custody of children will be entitled to work a four-day week if their child is staying with them, under a trial scheme

It remains undecided whether total working hours will be reduced for single working parents or whether workers will make up the difference in the weeks when the child is not staying with them - to put them in the same monthly average of the standard French 35-hour work week.

The government is urging unions and employers to negotiate the planned arrangements.

Following 20 years of campaigns to encourage shared custody of children and reduce the number of single-parent families in France, nearly half a million in the country shuttle, usually weekly, between two homes.

A bill before parliament now aims to change the law to make alternating shared custody the norm for courts dealing with divorce.

The French population are fans of the four-day working week - even if it means working longer hours while in the office.

In a poll carried out last month, 77 per cent of working individuals said they supported the idea.

France highlighted the success of a four-day trial in Britain involving 61 companies that took place over a six month period in 2022.

Involving 3,000 private sector workers, the trial resulted in a staggering 71 per cent drop in the number of bun-outs and a 65 per cent reduction in the number of days staff called in sick.

France's maximum 35-hour work week was introduced by a Socialist government in 2000, and was already being carried out by around 10,000 in May last year.

Attal said he wants to broaden the practice to the whole workforce as part of a drive to improve the quality of working life in France.

The plan is due to be discussed at a government seminar next week.